Apparatus for the pneumatic feeding of fiber tufts to spinning mill machinery

ABSTRACT

APPARATUS FOR FEEDING FIBER TUFTS TO A PICKER PNEUMATICALLY COMPRISING A FEEDING CHUTE, A SECONDARY CHUTE AND A PNEUMATIC DUCT THEREBETWEEN, A PRIMARY ROLLER HAVING PIN MEANS PROTRUDING FROM THE SURFACE THEREOF AT THE JUNCTURE OF THE FEED AND PNEUMATIC CHUTES, SEC-   ONDARY FEED ROLLERS ABOVE THE PRIMARY ROLLER, AND AIRPERVIOUS WALL MEANS ON THE SECONDARY CHUTE.

3 1 H. TRUETZSCHLER ,5

APPARATUS FOR THE PNEUMATIC FEEDING 0F FIBER TUFTS- TO SPINNINGMILLMACHINERY Filed Sept. 25, 1968 v. 3 3 G 1 /9 4&

United States Patent 6 U.S. Cl. 302-40 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THEDISCLOSURE Apparatus for feeding fiber tufts to a picker pneumaticallycomprising a feeding chute, a secondary chute and a pneumatic ducttherebetween; a primary roller having pin means protruding from thesurface thereof at the juncture of the feed and pneumatic chutes,secondary feed rollers above the primary roller; and airpervious wallmeans on the secondary chute.

The invention relates to an apparatus for the pneumatic feeding of fibertufts to spinning mill machinery, particularly below room machines,especially to pickers.

Pickers serve for the production of picker laps which are then fed tothe cards for further processing. To produce laps of sufficientuniformity, it is essential to feed the fiber material in uniformthickness to the input of the pickers. This purpose is served by thehopper feeders or double hopper feeders, which have long been in verycommon use, and which have been constructed in recent years with highfeed shafts and shakers. Slight variations in the fiber supply arecompensated for by the cone-belt control of the picker.

In recent times, chemical (synthetic) fibers and mixtures of same, aswell as mixtures of natural and synthetic fibers have been increasinglyhandled by these machines. Whenever a change in the mix must be made, avery thorough cleaning of the machines is necessary, because thedifferent fibers behave very differently in the dying process. Even whentuft-dyed or nozzle-dyed fibers are to be worked, a thorough cleaning isnecessary so as to avoid any adverse effect on the trueness to color ofthe next mixture. This cleaning always takes several hours. In thisperiod the machines must be out of production. The cleaning of theneedle lattices of the hopper feeders takes the longest time. In spiteof very thorough cleaning, it happens time and again that fibers fromthe preceding mixture contaminate the new mixture.

The invention is directed to the problem of eliminating thesedisadvantages by the elimination of the needle lattice or lattices.

The invention is characterized in that the bottom end of a vertical feedchute continuously fed with fiber tufts opens into a pneumatic feed ductrunning past it; that a rapidly rotating roll covered with pin lags orthe like is provided in this opening, at least one pair of feed rollsbeing provided in the chute above said rotating roll, and that a bloweris provided in the feed duct upstream of the opening in said chute, andsecondary a chute is provided downstream of the feed chute which leadsinto the blow room machine that is being fed, the wall of said chutebeing provided with air outlet apertures 3,552,800 Patented Jan. 5, 1971being connected to conduits leading to the suction side of the blower.

This invention will be best understood with reference to the drawingwhich shows in cross section an apparatus according to the invention.

Fiber tufts are fed to a feed chute 1, for example by means of acondenser, so that a column of fiber tufts is produced in the feedchute. A photoelectric cell 2 is provided, by which the column of fibertufts is controlled not to exceed a certain height. An opening at thebottom end of feed chute 1 is occupied by a primary roll 5 which isprovided with pin lags on the surface. Immediately above roll 5 areprovided pairs of secondary feed rolls 3 and 4. Rolls 3, 4 and 5 revolvein the direction of the arrows. The roll pairs 3 and 4 feed fiber tuftsto roll 5; roll 5, which revolves at high speed, tears fibers from thematerial being delivered to it and advances them into a pneumatic duct6.

Duct 6 has at one end a radial blower 7, and leads at the other end to achute 8 of a picker 17. The Walls 9 and 10 of secondary chute 8 haveapertures through which fiber tufts cannot escape. The fiber tufts aretherefore advanced to machine 17. The air escaping through walls 9 and10 flows into passages 11 and 12 from which it is carried by a commonpassage 13 or passages corresponding to the two passages 11 and 12 tothe intake end 14 of blower 7. Chute 8 is provided with a photocell or apressure sensitive switch means 15 by which the column of fiber tuftspresent in this duct is controlled.

The photoelectric cell 2 controls the apparatus 18 which supplied chute1 with fiber tufts, so that chute 1 is always supplied with fiber tuftssubstantially at the level of photoelectric cell 2. Photoelectric cell15 controls the drive 19 of the feed rolls 3 and 4 in such a manner thatthe desired quantity of fiber tufts is present in chute 8.

What is claimed is:

1. Apparatus for pneumatic feeding of textile fiber tufts to a textileprocessing machine which comprises a substantially vertical feed chute;means for feeding fiber tufts thereinto; primary roller means at thebase of said feed chute proximate to an exit port at the lower endthereof, which primary roller has pin means projecting from the surfacethereof; at least one pair of secondary rollers rotatable opposite toeach other above and proximate to said primary roller; pneumatic ductmeans transverse, proximate to said exit port and operativelycommunicating therewith; secondary chute means downstream and remotefrom said feed chute operatively communicating with said pneumatic chuteand with said textile processing machine; blower means in said pneumaticchute upstream from said feed chute; wall means on said secondary chutepervious to air; and means for conducting air exhausted from saidsecondary chute means to the intake side of said blower.

2. Apparatus claimed in claim 1 including motive means for driving saidprimary and secondary rollers.

3. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 including two pairs of secondaryrollers.

4. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 including control means in each ofsaid feed and secondary chutes, wherein said control means in said feedchute controls said means feeding fiber thereinto, and wherein saidcontrol means in said secondary chute controls said secondary rollers.

5. Apparatus claimed in claim 4 wherein said control means arephotoelectric devices.

4 6. Apparatus claimed in claim 4 wherein said control FOREIG PATE TSmeans of said secondary chute is a pressure-sensitive 1007772 10/1965Great Britain 1,405,043 5/1965 France.

7. Apparatus claimed in claim 1 wherein said textile processing machineis a picker.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 5 TRYGVE M. BLIX, PrimaryExaminer J. J. MCLAUGHLIN JR., Assistant Examiner Kelly US. Cl. X.R.Webb 302 22 10 19-97.5; 30222, 26, 60 Hunter 19-203 Nakano 30226

